With a major firm allowing ships to take detours, others could follow. That would add multiple days to a journey and burn through a lot more fuel.
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Escalating tensions in the waterways around the Middle East are threatening global energy flows.
Maersk Tankers, a Copenhagen-based company managing tanker ships, sent out a notice to its fleet allowing them to veer around the Red Sea should they need to, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The decision arrives as tankers traversing the waters — a major artery of global trade — find themselves in the crosshairs of Yemeni Houthi assaults linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
With Maersk permitting tankers to extend their voyages by traveling around Africa, other shipping companies could follow. That threatens to disrupt energy flows as detours would add several days to a journey and burn through a lot more fuel. The maritime corridor handles over 10% of global trade.
While Houthi rebels have said they would target Israeli-linked ships, the threats to trade disruptions are growing. This week, a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker was attacked, as well as a vessel carrying jet fuel toward the Suez Canal. A US commercial ship was also fired on last week.
The attacks on vessels passing through the Red Sea have also jacked up insurance costs due to the heightened risks.
Last week, energy expert Dan Yergin said that rising conflict at the Bab-el-Mandeb strait connecting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden was the real geopolitical threat facing oil markets.
That waterway sees about 9 million barrels of oil pass through every day, Yergin said, picking up as Russian oil flows have shifted south after Western sanctions were imposed.
